i'm not in love with david petraeus. >> he is quite a physical specimen. he really loves to work out. >> at the agency they called him genetic mutant. this project started as my dissertation. i was working with general petraeus virtually, doing interviews via e-mail. i'm not a spokesperson for him. if showing a role model to other people in the world or other readers is a repugnant thing, i'm sorry, but i think the values he upholds and tries to instill in his organizations are valuable and worth pointing out. >> that was paula broadwell then. she has not spoken subsequently. as we said, the timeline of the scandal, who got notified and when, is now under the microscope. cnn intelligence correspondent suzanne kelly has more on that. >> reporter: according to a friend of petraeus, the affair began in november last year, two months after the retired general took the helm at the cia. that same friend also reports that meetings between the two were infrequent, but at some point, petraeus and broadwell began communicating via personal e-mail accounts. e-mails t